obiwanknabbe

As I go further and further down the smithing rabbit hole, I find myself searching for illusive answers to some technical forging questions. Something I've seen a few times in kantei are descriptions of "controlled nei and noi" from various smiths. I'm wondering how this control was executed. Are there any good books or papers that dive into the deep technical "how" of ancient forging techniques?

Sorry about that. My phone auto rotated the pic. Fixed.

Can anyone help with this mei? It was a gift from a friend. I think it starts "Bi shu ju" but I'm not particularly knowledgeable about tsuba. Any info about the maker would be appreciated as well.

I have been watching some videos lately about modern sword smiths in Japan and the struggles they face. What does everyone think about having a raffle and the $ goes towards commissioning a new sword from one of the smiths?

Still available. Reasonable offers accepted.

Hey bazza. No pics to speak of. It's a hypothetical question. Just something I was thinking over while staring at the ceiling.

I was curious, if one has a sword polished, let's say for arguments sake that its just a finishing job to bring out details as the base of the original polish is still good and no pitting is present or major reshaping is required, but the habaki is tarnished and unattractive, or has rub marks or scratches from the old saya and use, yet it is still physically sound, is there a concensus on what should be done with it? Is there a tradition of restoration for habaki as well?

I was talking to my wife about this earlier and thought it would be a interesting topic. How did sword makers advertise their work? Did they have signs or ads in the moderns sense? Price lists? Were features or higher end fittings priced like we see today as add-ons? Or was it all just word of mouth?

I'm just leary of ebay. Been burned too many times in the past.

I was wondering if anyone knew of a reputable source for antique Japanese coins? Ryu, oban, koban ect. I have a few ichibu nishukin and nishugin but would like to add some of the larger coins to my collection. Clark Smith has a few but the inventory does not update often.advance. These are the few I have now. Thanks in advace.

Kazuhiro would like me to make it known that he will accept reasonable offers on this blade if anyone is interested.

This has all the looks of a komonjo ebay sword. Its possible that it started as a real blade of some type, but everything about it was tempered with or faked.

46+ now, but I started collecting in my teens. I imagine many of us got our starts because of martial arts training and how it connected us to Japanese culture and history. I do further suspect that much of our training is owed to having grown up on B ninja movies in the 80s (zodiacally also known as the decade of Chuck Norris), and early exposure to the seven samurai on late night tv.

Ok.. rabbit hole... where motoyasu and mototake brothers?